The road toll stands at 43 right now, just one shy of last years total. There is no doubt now that the road toll will surpass last years total, it's just a matter of by how much.
So, when it does go past last years total, I want all you supporters in the NT to get busy and start writing letters to both the paper, to your local member, and to the dragon lady herself. Hit the papers hard and keep submitting them until they are published.
The Martin govt's policy on roads is a shambles, and you must all remember this, this is very bloody important.
Point out to the papers, etc, that the NT has the lowest incidence of speed related deaths of any state or territory and that the 130kmh speed limit on the sealed highways, and 110kmh limits on the rural roads are totally, and utterly unjustified.
According to the Taskforce report, in the period between 2000-2005 the NT attributed 17% of all deaths to speed. The state with the highest rate of speed related deaths, NSW, and click on the link below for proof:
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety/speedandspeedcameras/index.html
It is fact that 62% of all speed related deaths occur on speed limited roads. Of course the idiot govt did not highlight this fact when they put out all their propaganda, because they wanted you to believe that the NT had a problem out on the open highway.
Well, as we have proven, the NT does not have a speeding problem at all, it has the best record in the country regarding speeding fatalities. Furthermore, speeding was a problem in speed limited areas, not unlimited highways.
The real problems in the NT are seat belts and alcohol and the government has done stuff all regarding breath testing. In fact, if you get in contact with opposition MLA Terry Mills, he will tell you I'm sure, that the number of breath tests done this year is lower than last year.
Seat belts are tough to target unfortunately because the NT is such a large place and densely populated. The only way anyone can tackle this problem effectively is through education, and that would take years.
At the end of the day, speeding never has been a problem in the NT and don't let the government, the TIO or that idiot Harold Scruby from the Pedestrian Council of Australia tell you otherwise.
Cheers
Gecks!
By the way I forgot to mention. The reason why I will not be writing a letter is because I have moved to Sydney.
The email address for letters to the editor is:
ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Lastly, I have done a bucketload of research for KeepNTLimitFree and am largely responsible for all the valuable knowledge we have on file, and for uncovering most of the startling facts on this website. I am spent, so it's up to you guys now.
Good luck.
Gidday Gecko, I hope that you still contribute here. Things have gone quiet here that's true. But most things that can be said have been said. Our next stop is the ballot box. But I know how you feel. I know that the vast majority down here in the Alice want to see the end of Clare and her merry bunch of buffoons!! I know that the CLP will be returned here with an increased majority. But our fate is up to those north of the Berima line, and they are being cultivated with huge water front developments and wave pools etc.... God help us.
If the administrator reads this can you give me Gecko's contact details, with his/her permission of course. I am studying the ATSB web site data at the moment. I would like to compare notes. What is in the ATSB web site completely contradicts what is in the NT task farce report!!!
Administrator, you may pass on my details to Neveragain.
Neveragain, I would not knock yourself out doing research because I have already done it. The Administrator has my file and there is some info in there from the ATSB website. If the Administrator is willing to copy the file and scan it into PDF form you are welcome to it.
By all means do some additional research if you want but I am not sure there's much to do, I think we have pretty well covered all bases. If you are working on something in particular, discuss with the Administrator and he can tell you whether we have already covered it.
Just to give you some ideas of what I have uncovered:
* the NT has the lowest incidence of speed related fatalities in the country;
* that demerits do not work. I arrived at this conclusion by looking at the national road toll throughout the 70's because demerits were introduced in 1969, '68 in QLD, and lastly ACT in 1993. The national road toll peaked in 1970 and then never came down to pre-demerit levels during the 70's. For the ACT, the toll was something like 20 in 1992, and in 2006 it was 26;
* have proven that the NT is way, way above the national averages for road deaths involving alcohol and the non-wearing of seat belts - the REAL problems;
* the NT leads the way for aboriginal road deaths. That's right, the NT which has the smallest population of any state or territory has more aboriginal deaths per annum on the roads, not per capita, than any other state or territory;
*and on speeding, when you strip out from the speeding deaths those that also involved alcohol and the non-wearing of a seat belt, the number of deaths per annum due solely to speed is so miniscule it will make your head spin. Unfortunately we need to keep this under our hat for now.
There's a whole lot of stuff we have condensed into a report which we eventually will go public with and when we do people will shake their heads in disbelief.
Please send me an email with your preferred method of contact and I will forward Gecko's details to you my good friend.
Is there somwe way I can send you my email adress that is not public??
Cheers.....
Contact the administrator at admin@KeepNTlimitFree.org
Gecks
Get writing people, the road toll is now officially higher than last years total. Now 45 compared to 44 for 2006.
gecks